Ragged School Museum

Taste a slice of Victorian life and enter this fascinating museum created to transport you back in time.

Reality Check

A visit to the Ragged School Museum could help your children appreciate how much the education system has moved on since the 19th Century! Housed in an old warehouse alongside Regents Canal the classrooms bring to life the cold and basic atmosphere that was school. Copperfield Road Ragged School was originally on this site and was started by Dr Barnado in 1877, becoming the largest free school in London.

A Victorian Childhood

Ragged schools, such as the example the museum portrays, were set up by charitable people of the town to provide children with a basic education, meals and support to find employment. There are regular activities run throughout the museum to help your children understand how the schools worked in those days and fascinate them with the basics of, what was, every day life.

After School

Once you’ve exhausted the ins and outs of the misery of a deprived Victorian childhood, get back out in to the fresh air and take your family to Mile End Park! A new and innovative public amenity housing and eco park, arts park, dedicated tranquil space, kid’s park (for under 8s), kids’ adventure park (for 11 to 17 year olds) – there’s also an electric go-kart track for the adventurers as well as a fantastic indoor climbing centre, considered by some to be the best in London!

Highlight of the Day

The museum is educational and very thought provoking but its more likely that your young ones will remember the go-karts and the Green Bridge in Mile End Park more than they will the classrooms!